The Secret Sauce PDF

Infiltrator is a super cool and underrated plugin from Devious Machines. Not many people know about it yet, and I was lucky enough to get the chance to work with the company directly.

This plugin shines when used as an effect track, especially if you’re into creating your own samples or working in dance genres like Dubstep. It’s packed with creative modulation tools, filters, delays, and rhythmic effects. If you’re feeling stuck or just want to spice things up, try the randomizer on the preset section—you’ll be surprised by how wild and inspiring some of the sounds can get.

One of my favorite presets is Jungle is Massive, which you can see in the screenshot. I love using it on vocals to add some unexpected energy or glitchy moments in the track. It’s great for creating those unusual textures that make your production stand out.

EFX Fragments from Arturia was a bit of an unexpected find for me, and it’s become a powerful tool—especially for sample makers or anyone looking for something fresh and unique in their sound design. The beauty of this plugin is in its simplicity: you just drop it onto any melody or melodic part and start tweaking the Grain Mix or FX knobs.

With just a few adjustments, you can achieve some really cool, textured sounds that add a whole new layer to your track. It’s perfect for creating atmospheric elements that fill out the mix without being too overbearing. If your track feels like it’s missing something unique, this plugin is a great way to bring in something unexpected and non-standard.

HexFX by Serato is a relatively new plugin that has quickly become one of my favorites in my workflow. My go-to preset is Your Vocal Reverb Aux, but honestly, there are so many cool presets in this plugin that it’s tough to pick just one. This one, however, stands out as particularly interesting.

The only downside is that it can sound quite aggressive in the mix—it tends to take up a lot of space and can easily draw attention away from other elements. So, when using this plugin, it’s important not to overdo it. I usually work with the Dry/Wet knob to dial it back and also reduce the tail to keep things more controlled.

That said, it’s an amazing plugin with great effects and presets that work across a wide range of genres and styles.

BEAM by Lunacy Audio is a crazy must-have plugin in my opinion. I just came back from an Atlanta camp, and some big-name producers and sample makers put me onto this plugin. I also had the chance to meet the owner, which made it even more interesting to dive deeper into it.

If you want to make something sound crazy, unique, or just completely different, this is definitely one of those plugins. It has a lot of different effects and sound design possibilities, and you can throw it on almost anything—melodies, vocals, textures, synths—record the result, resample it, and build something completely new out of it.

One of my favorite things about it is the random button and preset generator. That alone can give you so many fresh ideas and unexpected sounds. If you feel stuck or want to find a new direction fast, this plugin can really help with that.

It’s one of those tools that can add sauce to almost anything. The only thing is, sometimes it takes a little more time and effort to find exactly what you’re looking for, especially at first. But once you start understanding what every knob does, it becomes way easier to control and get the results you want.

For sound design, though, this plugin is just crazy. It can take a basic sound and turn it into something that feels completely original.

Duke by Jungle Audio is definitely a hidden gem. Not many people are talking about this plugin yet, which honestly makes it even more special. If you get into it now, you could almost be one of the first people to really have that sauce in your workflow.

What makes it even crazier is that this plugin was created by Grammy-winning producers who are actually making real hit records—multi-platinum type of records. So this is not just some random effect plugin with a cool design. It was clearly made by people who understand what modern records are supposed to feel like.

The first thing that stands out is the visual side of it—it looks crazy and inspiring right away. But more importantly, it sounds crazy too. It’s super easy to use, and that’s one of the reasons I like it so much. You don’t have to overthink it or spend forever tweaking. You just throw it on, start moving things around, and almost instantly you get texture, character, and a completely different vibe.

For me, this plugin is kind of like RC-20 on steroids. It can add tone, movement, grit, and personality to almost anything. Melodies, samples, keys, vocals, drums—it just gives everything a more interesting texture and makes it feel more alive.

It’s one of those plugins that can make almost anything sound better, and that’s why I think it’s a real secret weapon.

Deja Vu is a free plugin from Cymatics, and it’s become one of my go-to tools—especially when working on Hip-Hop or R&B. I used to use Halftime a lot, but that changed after I had the chance to sit in on a session with Dunkrock, the producer behind Gunna’s “Fck You Mean.” This plugin was actually one of his secret weapons, and I’ve been using it ever since.

Compared to Halftime, Deja Vu feels smoother and more precise in how it processes the audio. It doesn’t overpower the sound—it just gives it that half-speed, dreamy vibe in a much more controlled way.

It’s simple, effective, and free—definitely a must-have if you’re working in these genres.

This next one is the Moog delay plugin, and if you want to make your song sound more analog and more alive, this is definitely one of those secret sauce tools. I love using it when I want to get a more realistic-sounding delay on melodies, pianos, synths, or really any instrument that needs some depth and movement without sounding too clean or too digital.

What makes this plugin special is the tone. The repeats feel warm, musical, and a little bit imperfect in the best way possible, which is exactly why it works so well if you’re trying to get that more analog-style vibe. Sometimes clean delays can sound too obvious or too sterile, but this one sits inside the track in a much more natural way.

I’ve seen a lot of Grammy-winning engineers and producers use this plugin or talk about this type of delay sound, but for some reason almost nobody really talks about it openly. It’s one of those plugins that kind of stays under the radar, even though it can make a huge difference in the way your melodies feel.

If I want a delay that adds vibe instead of just repeating the sound, this is one of my favorite options.

Eventide H910 Harmonizer is an insane plugin and definitely one of those real secret sauce tools. You can use it in different ways, but the way I really love using it is on synths, pianos, and especially when I’m making samples. I usually throw it on the sound and pitch it down a couple of semitones, and it instantly starts sounding way more interesting and way more alive.

What I really like about this plugin is that it doesn’t sound too clean or too digital. It has this crazy texture and character that feels almost analog, which is why it works so well when you want to spice up melodies or add a different kind of vibe to a sound. Sometimes just that small pitch move is enough to make a basic part feel much more unique.

KXVI the Producer actually put me onto this plugin, and once I started using it, I understood why so many people keep it in their secret weapon folder. It’s one of those plugins that a lot of people use, but not everyone talks about openly.

You can also use it on background vocals, ad-libs, and different textures, so it’s not limited to just melodies. Overall, it’s an amazing tool if you want to add some movement, character, and a little bit of weirdness in the best way possible.

This next one is super basic, but if you don’t have MetaFlanger by Waves, I honestly don’t know what you’re doing. For me, this is probably one of the best flanger plugins ever, and it’s one of those tools that’s been around for a long time but still sounds crazy.

The way I like to use it is super simple — I just start with the stock preset and make it a little bit wider in stereo. That alone can already give you a really interesting sound without doing too much.

This is also one of those secret sauce plugins for background vocals of CB! If you want to make your background vocals sound crazy and more alive, just put it on a send and throw a reverb after it. That combination can give you a super wide, unique, and really vibey background vocal sound that instantly feels more special.

If you already have Waves, you should definitely be using this plugin. And if you don’t, go get it. It’s one of those basic tools that can still do something really special when you use it the right way.

Microshift by Soundtoys is one of the most straightforward yet effective plugins in my collection. I simply drag-and-drop it onto my track, and either it works, or it doesn’t. When I need to make something wider, this plugin is my go-to. I’ve noticed that many top engineers use Microshift in their effect chains, often placing it right after delay or reverb to widen the effects. This adds a spacious feel to the track, giving room for other elements to sit in the center without clashing.

It’s a simple tool, but when used correctly, it can transform the spatial quality of a mix.

PanMan is another essential tool in my production arsenal. The screenshot shows my favorite preset, which I use all the time — especially on percussion, and most often on hi-hats.

I picked up this trick from the legendary producer OZ. PanMan helps make your mix feel wider and more dynamic, adding movement to percussion or any melodic elements you want to give life to.

Of course, how you use it depends on the track and the idea, but for me, this plugin is an irreplaceable part of my workflow.

ZENOLOGY by Roland is, in my opinion, one of the real source synths that so many major producers are using. This plugin has a huge sound, a lot of libraries, and a lot of presets that can instantly put you in the right direction if you’re making samples, Drake-style beats, or just modern melodic production in general.

Honestly, it feels like almost every producer is using this in some way. There are so many sounds inside it that it can easily become one of those main synths you keep going back to. If you’re trying to level up your sound and get access to more polished, industry-style textures, this is definitely a great synth plugin to have in your arsenal.

The only downside is that it can feel a little pricey if you want to get the full perpetual license. But in my opinion, it’s still worth it, especially if you’re serious about production and want something that already has a proven sound behind a lot of records and sample packs.

Overall, this is one of those synths that can really upgrade your workflow and give you access to sounds that already feel ready for placement, sample making, or serious production

Chorus JUN-6 by Arturia is another super simple but very effective plugin in my workflow. I learned about this secret sauce from engineers who worked with Prince and Imagine Dragons, and ever since then, it’s been one of those plugins I can throw on something and instantly hear the difference.

If I want to make something sound wider, bigger, and more exciting—especially pianos, synths, or background vocals—this is one of the easiest ways to do it. You just throw it directly on the channel, and right away the sound feels more open and more alive.

What I really like about this plugin is that it doesn’t take a lot of work. It’s very straightforward, but the effect is strong. Sometimes a sound feels a little too narrow or too flat, and this plugin helps give it that extra size without making things too complicated.

It’s definitely one of those classic tools that can make a part sound way bigger in just a few seconds.

Guitar Rig is one of those plugins that I don’t hear many people talk about, but it’s definitely a favorite of mine. The Analogue Answers preset (which you can see in the screenshot) is a go-to for me. The only thing to keep in mind is that it has a long tail, so I usually turn off the analog sequencer while I’m working if it starts taking up too much space in the mix.

I also like to adjust the decay on the RAUM reverb, just to make sure the melodic part doesn’t occupy too much space but still provides a really interesting texture. This plugin works great on guitars, pianos, and really any melodic parts you want to add some character to.

Next up is Decapitator—a plugin I reach for all the time when I want to add some warmth, edge, or grit to a sound.

As you can see, I like to use it on an Effect Rack, just because I’ve gotten really used to the interface and how quickly I can dial things in. The screenshot here shows my usual starting settings. I typically push the Drive knob to around 3 to get a nice touch of saturation without overdoing it.

I also almost always engage the Steep switch to bring out the high-end presence a bit more—it just adds that extra clarity and bite that helps a sound cut through the mix.

Another important step for me is setting the Mix (Dry/Wet) knob to around 80%, so I’m blending the processed signal with the original. That way, I keep the character and punch of the clean sound, while still getting all the benefits of Decapitator’s saturation. It’s one of those plugins that’s hard to replace once it becomes part of your sound.

Rabbit Tape by Safari Pedals is one of those simple plugins that can instantly make your melody or synth feel more special and more unique. It’s not complicated, and that’s the beauty of it — you throw it on, tweak a couple knobs, and you already hear that extra vibe.

If you’re making soulful samples, this plugin is super dope even on the master. It can add that “soul” and vintage texture to the whole loop, like it came from an older tape or an old sampler. It’s subtle if you want it to be, but it can also get more obvious depending on how far you push it.

Overall it’s a really easy tool that adds character fast — perfect when your sound feels too clean or too modern.

Also, quick side note: check out the other Safari Pedals plugins too. Almost everything they make is dope — they look cool, they sound amazing, and the price is usually super low for what you get.

OrangeClip is a plugin by my friend Ryan Schwabe, recently updated to version 3, and I had the honor of creating my own custom presets for it. The screenshot shows my starting position — the go-to setup I use most of the time.

I like to lower the ceiling of the soft clipper to get maximum clipping and saturation. Then I blend the processed signal with the dry signal, usually around -5 dB, to keep things balanced and musical.

One important tip: make sure to click “Unlink Drive-In” and “Unlink Input-Output” — this gives you more control and flexibility.

This plugin is a precise emulation of the legendary soft clipper from FL Studio, which is why many top audio engineers who work in Pro Tools use OrangeClip every day. In my opinion, it’s one of the best soft clippers on the market right now.

Decimort 2 is hands down one of my favorite plugins right now. It adds a kind of analog-style saturation that feels very warm and musical. This plugin is super popular among Phonk producers, and the preset I’m using here—8-Bit Mastering—was actually something I picked up from one of the top Phonk artists out there. A lot of the biggest names in that genre use this exact preset as a starting point.

What makes Decimort 2 special is that it’s not just a bitcrusher—it’s a sampler emulation tool that lets you lower the sample rate and dial in some really gritty, lo-fi textures. You can even get that classic “Drake underwater” effect with it, which makes it a powerful tool for both subtle tone shaping and more extreme FX.

The main controls I use are Preamp, Frequency, and Jitter. I tweak these based on the instrument or vocal I’m working with—just to taste. It’s one of those plugins that can completely change the vibe of a track with just a few small moves.

Next up is Aurora, a relatively new addition to my plugin arsenal—but it’s quickly becoming one of my go-to reverbs.

I usually start with the Concert Hall preset, which gives a wide and spacious sound right out of the box. From there, I simply cut some of the lows and highs to make sure the reverb sits cleanly in the mix without muddying up the vocal. It’s subtle, but makes a big difference when you’re trying to create space without clutter.

What makes Aurora special for me is how flexible it is. Unlike traditional reverbs, you can drop it directly on the vocal track—no need for a separate AUX send. And what’s even cooler is that Aurora doesn’t just add reverb; it also has a built-in dynamic response that kind of “glues” the wet signal to the dry vocal. It feels like the reverb is breathing with the vocal—almost like a subtle sidechain compression happening automatically.

The result is a very musical, controlled reverb that adds depth without overpowering. It’s smooth, intuitive, and doesn’t slow down the creative process.

Cascadia is another new tool in my arsenal, also from iZotope. It works in a similar way to Aurora, but instead of reverb, it handles delay. I usually start with the Ping Pong preset, and then just adjust it based on the track. Most of the time, I change the timing to either a quarter note or a sixteenth note, depending on what feels right.

What I really like about this plugin is how easy it is to use. You can throw it right onto the track—no need to set up extra buses. It processes the delay in a way that blends smoothly with the main signal, kind of like Aurora does with reverb. It’s simple, clean, and it gets the job done fast, which is super important when you’re in a creative flow.

Knock by my good friend Decap is a plugin I’ve been using for a while now, and it’s become a game-changer when it comes to getting that loud, punchy drum sound. For years, I’ve been asking top audio engineers and producers how to make my kicks hit hard, but still stay clean, and this plugin gives me the secret sauce to achieve that effect.

Decap recently won a Tec Awards for this plugin, which speaks volumes about its quality. In the screenshot, you can see my starting preset. The first thing I do is work with the Clip knob to get my kick to start clipping just a bit—this helps me get maximum volume without the risk of over-saturating the sound. Then, I might add a bit of punch with the Transient Shaper, which allows me to shape the transients of my kicks or percussion to fit the mix.

From there, I tweak things based on the track—sometimes adjusting saturation, adding air, or cutting some high frequencies—but Clip and Punch are my go-to controls when I’m dialing in that big, clean drum sound.

KnockTonal by DJ Swivel is another recent addition to my plugin arsenal, and I was introduced to it after DJ Swivel mentioned in a conversation that he had created this plugin to add harmonic saturation to any sound—or conversely, to remove certain harmonic characteristics from a track or sound. Naturally, being the gearhead I am, I started experimenting with it, and it’s quickly become a staple for me, especially on drum parts.

Every sound, even percussion, has its own pitch, though that pitch isn’t always immediately audible. Each frequency corresponds to a certain note, which is why I love using this plugin to tune my drums to the key of the track. I often add a bit of harmonic content to my kicks, claps, and percussion to make them fit better with the tonality of the song.

As you can see from the screenshot, my starting preset shows the note C, but this is highly dependent on the root note of the song I’m working on. I just add harmonics that align with the key of the composition. The key here is moderation—too many resonances can muddy the mix, so be careful not to overdo it.

If you’ve found the perfect drum sample—maybe a kick or hi-hat—that sounds great on its own but doesn’t quite fit the vibe of your track, then this plugin is a great solution. And if you’re as much of a gear nerd as I am, this tool will be a game-changer for you. I’ve also heard that some mastering engineers use it to remove unwanted harmonics and enhance the right ones in the track’s key.

Let’s throw it back with a classic — Transient Master from Native Instruments. This plugin is old but gold — a secret weapon used by many major producers, including Skrillex, who’s known to use it frequently in his sessions.

What it does:

• It allows you to enhance or reduce the attack and sustain of any sound — especially useful on drums, percussions, and sometimes even melodic elements.
• It’s perfect for tightening up sounds, making them punchier, drier, or more in-your-face.
• Great for cutting the tail off a snare or adding snap to a kick.

How I use it:

• I usually start by boosting the Attack slightly.
• Then I dial down the Sustain to shorten the sound and remove unwanted reverb tails or ambience.
• All adjustments are made by ear, but these starting points are inspired by how Skrillex uses the plugin.

Let’s kick it off with a true classic—the 1176 compressor from Universal Audio.

This plugin is one of the most iconic compressors in audio history, and it’s earned a permanent spot in my workflow. I usually stick with the default preset and simply adjust the Input knob to taste, aiming for about 3 dB of gain reduction. It’s fast, punchy, and brings a certain character that I haven’t quite found in any other plugin.

What’s even more interesting is that about 80% of the audio engineers I’ve interviewed—many of whom work with top-tier artists—also rely on the 1176. From Chris Brown’s signature vocal tone to countless other major-label projects, this compressor is part of the secret sauce behind many hit records.

Most engineers I spoke to prefer the Blue Stripe version of the 1176, known for its aggressive and colorful tone. And since this plugin was recently made available for free, I took it as a sign to finally integrate it into my own sessions—and it hasn’t left my template since.

This plugin has become a staple in my workflow thanks to its intelligent frequency control and especially the Sharpness knob — which, believe it or not, is kind of a secret weapon among top engineers. It helps reduce phase issues and brings a smooth, polished sound without harshness.

How I use it:

• For individual instruments, I often start with the default preset, and simply tweak the Sharpness knob to taste.
• On the master bus, I go with the “Helping the Eurovision” preset.
• I slightly reduce the Sharpness
• Set the Mix around 80%
• And add a little Depth (between 0 and 3) to tame the highs and add glue to the overall mix.

The result is a dynamic yet smooth master, free of harsh junk — perfect for making your mix sound expensive and clean.

This next plugin is Spiff by Oeksound — and this particular preset completely changed the game for me.

I discovered it thanks to one of my favorite mix engineers, Mike, who works with Tory Lanez and is also a Grammy winner. The preset is called Remove Mouth Clicks.

At first, I was skeptical — I found out about it during an interview — but once I threw it on a vocal I was working on, I immediately realized… this is a secret weapon.

The only thing you really need to watch out for is the Mix knob. I usually set it around 80% to get the perfect balance — not too much, not too little.

Try it on any of your vocals, and you’ll instantly hear the difference.

One of my favorite plugins — MatchEQ by iZotope. I always use it second to last on my master bus, right before the limiter.

I load the Pink Noise preset because many legendary pop records — like tracks by Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, and others — were mixed and mastered using pink noise as a frequency reference.

Pink noise represents a classic tonal balance for clean, commercial-sounding mixes.

How I use it:

1. Load MatchEQ and select Pink Noise as the reference.
2. Analyze my track and identify which frequency ranges are lacking.
3. Most often, I see dips around 2kHz or 5kHz.
4. I go back into the mix and boost those missing frequencies using my regular EQ.
5. Then I hit Clear, reanalyze the mix, and repeat the process until my curve closely matches the pink noise reference.

Important note:

Every track is different, and not all of them need the same frequency balance. But I’ve noticed that even across different genres and styles, using pink noise as a guide adds uniqueness and polish to my sound.

By the way, Bob Horn, a Grammy-winning engineer who worked with Michael Jackson, uses this plugin as well — I found that out during an interview, which you can check out on my page.

Duck by Devious Machines is another plugin I use a lot. You probably already have something like Cableguys ShaperBox, Kickstart, or some other sidechain tool—but this one feels special to me.

In my opinion, Duck is a little more flexible, but still super easy to use. You can use it as a sidechain plugin, but also as a creative tool, an LFO tool, and for a lot of other movement-based effects in your production. That’s one of the main reasons I keep coming back to it—it’s simple, but you can do a lot with it.

I’ve seen a lot of Drum & Bass producers using this plugin, and sample makers use it a lot too. It’s great when you want to create bounce, space, and rhythm in a track without overcomplicating the process.

If you want something that’s fast, flexible, and really musical, definitely check out Duck.

Next up is the VLC plugin — a collaboration between MixWave and Hazelrigg Industries. It’s an emulation of the legendary Hazelrigg Industries analog preamp, which has been used by major artists like Yung Thug, Chris Brown, and many others.

This plugin sounds incredibly close to the analog hardware, giving your vocals or instruments that rich, vintage warmth and clarity.

Here’s how I use it:

• Start with the Mic Input engaged.
• Then adjust the High Boost knob to taste — usually somewhere between +3 to +3.3 dB.
• I also use the Low Cut button when I want to clean up the low end and make the vocal sit better in the mix.

If you want your vocals to stand out, sound brighter, and feel more polished — this plugin is a solid choice. It’s subtle, but powerful.

Oxford Limiter is one of those secret sauce tricks I learned from Sambo, producer and engineer for $uicideboy$. He uses it as a final limiter with the exact settings shown in the screenshot to push the track louder while still keeping the transients intact. The key is turning Safe Mode off, adding input gain so the signal passes the threshold, and letting the output clip by around 1 to 2 dB. It is a simple but very effective way to maximize loudness without killing the energy of the mix.

Autotune is the most famous vocal tuning plugin on the planet — and the not-so-secret weapon behind almost every modern hit vocal you hear.

But here's the trick most people miss: there's a "secret" starting preset the pros reach for — Retune Speed 20, Flex-Tune 20, Humanize 20. This "20-20-20" combo is the sweet spot between transparent pitch correction and that polished, modern sheen. Retune Speed 20 corrects fast enough to sound clean without the robotic snap. Flex-Tune 20 keeps the natural slides and vocal gestures intact while still catching the off notes. Humanize 20 adds life back into sustained notes so they don't sound frozen.

Dial that in, and you get the radio-ready vocal sound without it screaming "auto-tuned." Want the hard robotic effect instead? Drop Retune Speed down to 0–8. That's the entire range, from invisible to T-Pain, in three knobs.

FabFilter Pro-Q 4 is the cleanest, most surgical EQ in the game — everybody uses it. But almost nobody uses its most powerful trick: EQ Match.

Here's the secret sauce. Find a professionally mixed reference — say, a Dua Lipa vocal. Use a free stem separator to pull out just the vocal. Load Pro-Q 4 on both your raw vocal and the reference, run EQ Match, and Pro-Q 4 analyzes the frequency balance of the pro vocal and automatically draws a curve to make YOUR vocal sit in the same tonal space — brighter, fuller, closer to the reference.

The curve it draws can look absolutely insane — peaks and dips everywhere, breaking every "rule" you've been taught. Ignore the rules. Pull the overall match strength down to around 40–60% so it's not too extreme, and trust your ears. If it sounds good, it sounds good. Almost nobody is using Pro-Q 4 this way — and it's a total game-changer for getting a pro tonal balance fast.

Valhalla VintageVerb is the most loved reverb in modern music — warm, lush, and ridiculously cheap for how good it sounds. Most people know it. But here's a producer move most people skip.

Switch the mode to Ambience. If you make beats or work with melodic elements — keys, plucks, synths, guitars — and you want to add depth and space without an obvious reverb tail, the Ambience mode is magic. It glues the sound into a believable space and makes it feel expensive and three-dimensional, without washing the mix out. A lot of big-name producers run this exact mode on their melodies as a "secret" layer. Throw it on, dial the mix low, and listen to your melody suddenly sound like a record.

The Neve 1073 is the most legendary mic preamp and EQ ever built — the real analog unit costs thousands of dollars per channel. These plugin emulations capture that exact sound: a thick, warm midrange punch, a silky top end, and a gentle tube-like saturation when you push the input.

This is the real secret sauce behind countless hit vocals. It's in the vocal chain of Post Malone, Ellie Goulding, Offset, H.E.R. — over and over again. If you can't afford the real hardware, a 1073 plugin is the single fastest way to give your vocals (or any element — bass, drums, guitars) that legendary, expensive warmth the second you load it. Drive the input a touch for saturation, use the musical EQ to add air up top and weight down low, and instantly your sound goes from "home studio" to "record."

EchoBoy is Soundtoys' legendary delay, and it's in the chain of basically every Grammy-winning engineer out there. It emulates a whole rack of vintage delays — tape echo, EP-3 Echoplex, Space Echo — so instead of a sterile digital repeat, you get delays with character, warmth, and soul.

Here's a secret sauce move from a Grammy-winning songwriter: run EchoBoy on your vocal, then compress it hard with a second compressor (like an R-Comp) so the delay becomes "super compressed" — thick, present, and glued right into the vocal instead of floating behind it. This turns your delay from a background wash into part of the actual vocal tone, and it's a trick you hear on tons of modern records. Pro tip: there's also a free EchoBoy Jr. if you want the same core sound with fewer controls.

The Pultec EQP-1A is a legendary tube EQ from the 1950s that still lives on almost every hit record. It's not a surgical EQ — it's a color and vibe EQ, adding weight, air, and tube warmth.

And it has one of the most famous tricks in all of mixing — the Pultec Low-End Trick. Set the low frequency to 60 Hz. Now boost AND cut the same 60 Hz at the same time. Logically that should cancel out — but it doesn't, because the Boost and Atten curves have different shapes. The boost is a wide gentle shelf down low, the cut is a narrower dip slightly higher up. The result is a huge, tight low-end thump at 60 Hz with a clean scoop right above it where the mud usually lives. Your kick comes out heavier AND cleaner at the same time. Works like a charm on kick, bass, drum bus, and even the master.

iZotope Ozone is the all-in-one mastering suite that's a true industry standard. EQ, multiband compression, imager, exciter, and a true-peak maximizer all in one place, with an AI Master Assistant that builds you a starting chain.

Here's a secret sauce move most people never think of — the Declip trick for streaming loudness. Before your final limiter, run your master through Ozone's Declip module. Declip uses machine learning to rebuild the clipped, flattened peaks in your audio, restoring the natural transient shape that gets chopped off when a mix is pushed hard. Why does this matter? Spotify and Apple Music normalize loudness and penalize tracks with messy inter-sample peaks — the hidden peaks that appear when your WAV gets encoded to AAC. By restoring a clean, natural peak structure first, your final true-peak limiter works far more transparently, so you can hit a louder, cleaner perceived loudness while staying under the safe ceiling. The result: your track punches harder against everything else in the playlist instead of getting turned down by the algorithm.

The LA-2A is the legendary optical tube compressor — originally built in 1965 and still the go-to for vocals everywhere. The magic is in its program-dependent optical circuit: it reacts to your vocal naturally and musically, smoothing things out without you having to fight a bunch of knobs.

There are really only two controls — Peak Reduction and Gain — and that's the point. Slap it on a vocal, dial in a few dB of reduction, and instantly you get a warm, thick, polished sound that sits forward in the mix. It works beautifully on bass, guitars, and full mixes too. This is one of those plugins where the "secret" is just how fast it makes things sound expensive — no secret menu required, just one of the best-sounding compressors ever made.

The SSL Channel Strip is the EQ + dynamics combo that defined the sound of countless records — the heart of the legendary SSL mixing console, now in a plugin.

Here's a real secret sauce: Nickie Jon Pabón — the Grammy-nominated engineer behind Jack Harlow's records — said it straight up: "my secret sauce is the SSL plugin, from the actual company." He specifically reaches for the native SSL Channel Strip made by Solid State Logic themselves (not a third-party emulation) on his vocals, and it's a huge part of that crisp, punchy, finished Jack Harlow vocal tone. The SSL EQ has a certain forward, aggressive character that cuts through a mix instantly, and the built-in compressor and gate let you shape the whole vocal in one plugin. Load it, push the highs for air, add a touch of the low-mid punch, and your vocal snaps into focus.

Lexicon is the gold standard of digital reverb — the 224 and 480L units defined the reverb sound of basically every classic pop, R&B and rock record since the 1980s. The modern PCM Native plugins give you that same legendary density and dimension.

The secret sauce here is simple: reach for the Plate presets. Most top engineers use Lexicon specifically for its plates — they sound rich, smooth, and expensive, and they sit a vocal in a polished space without muddying anything up. You barely have to touch the settings. Load a plate, blend it in to taste, and your vocal instantly sounds like it was mixed in a world-class studio. It's one of those reverbs that just makes everything sound more "produced."

FabFilter Saturn is one of the most flexible saturators ever made — a multiband distortion and saturation unit with dozens of flavors, from warm tape and tube to aggressive transformer and amp drive. You can use it for a subtle touch of warmth or full-on creative destruction.

Here's a secret sauce from Luca Pretolesi (Grammy-winning mix engineer — Drake, Skrillex, Major Lazer): he runs Saturn in saturation mode on his vocal bus to add harmonics and density before compression, a key move in getting that loud, polished, in-your-face EDM and pop sound. Saturation adds harmonics that make a sound feel louder and richer without raising its actual level — so the vocal cuts through the mix and feels "finished." Use it gently across the whole vocal bus, or push individual bands for grit exactly where you want it.

Waves Renaissance Compressor (R-Comp) is one of the simplest compressors out there — just Threshold, Ratio, Attack, Release, and Output — but it sounds incredible on vocals, which is why it shows up in so many pro chains.

The secret sauce is using it as a second, "glue" compressor. A Grammy-winning songwriter runs vocals through R-Comp as a double-compression stage — one compressor to control dynamics, then R-Comp to smooth and thicken on top. Because it's so clean and musical, R-Comp adds polish without obvious pumping. Set a gentle ratio, a medium attack so transients still poke through, and a release that breathes with the song. It's the kind of compressor you stop noticing and just start trusting — perfect as the final touch that makes a vocal sit "stuck" in the mix.

Waves Renaissance Reverb (R-Verb) is a simple algorithmic reverb that engineers love for one reason: it just sounds good. It doesn't try to be a convolution monster or a Lexicon clone — it delivers a lush, classic, polished reverb with almost no effort.

It's the finishing reverb on tons of pro vocal chains — even in the chain that recreated Prince's Paisley Park vocal sound. The move is to use it as a short-to-medium vocal plate or room, blended in low, just to give the voice a sense of space and "air" without pushing it back. Pick a plate or hall preset, keep the mix subtle, roll off some lows and highs on the reverb return so it doesn't clutter the mix, and your vocal instantly feels more produced and three-dimensional.